The occurrence of color turbidity (color mixing) where the oxidized form of a color developing agent produced during development migrates into an adjacent colored image forming layer and forms the wrong dye is well known in multi-layer color photographic materials of the type which contain color forming couplers in the silver halide photographic emulsion layers and which are developed using a color developing agent such as p-phenylenediamine. Methods in which various hydroquinones are used have been suggested in the past as a means of preventing the occurrence of color turbidity. For example, the use of mono-linear chain alkyl-hydroquinones has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,728,659 and in JP-A-No. 49-106329 etc. (the term "JP-A" as used herein signifies an unexamined published Japanese patent application), and the use of mono-branched alkylhydroquinones has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,453, West German Patent Application (OLS) No. 2,149,789, and JP-A-No. 50-156438 and JP-A-No. 49-106329. The use of di-linear chain alkyl-hydroquinones has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,728,659, and 2,732,300, in British Patents Nos. 752,146 and 1,086,208, and in Chemical Abstract, Volume 58, abstract number 6367h and the use of di-branched alkyl-hydroquinones has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,700,453 and 2,732,300, in British Patent No. 1,086,208, in the aforementioned Chemical Abstracts, in JP-A-No. 50-156438, and in JP-B-No. 50-21249 and JP-B-No. 51-40818, (the term "JP-B" as used herein signifies an examined Japanese patent publication).
Other cases of the use of alkylhydroquinones as anti-color turbidity agents have been disclosed in British Patents Nos. 558,258, 557,750 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,360,290), 557,802 and 731,301 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,197), in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,336,327, 2,403,721 and 3,582,333, in West German Patent Application (OLS) No. 2,505,016 (corresponding to JP-A-No. 50-110337), and in JP-B-No. 56-40816.
Also, the use of sulfonamidophenols as anticolor turbidity agents have been disclosed in JP-A-Nos. 59-5247 and 59-202465.
Color turbidity similar to that which occurs in ordinary color photographic materials is also known to occur in color diffusion transfer photographic materials, and the above mentioned hydroquinones have been used in order to prevent this. Hydroquinones for use as anti-color turbidity agents in diffusion transfer sensitive materials have been disclosed in JP-A- No. 58-21249.
The use of sulfonamidophenols as anti-color turbidity agents in diffusion transfer sensitive materials has been disclosed in Research Disclosure, 15162 (March 1973), page 83, and in JP-A-No. 55-72158 and JP-A-No. 57-24941.
Hydroquinones and sulfonamidophenols have also been used in color sensitive materials as toe cutting agents and anti-color fogging agents in coupling systems, and as development accelerators, toe cutting agents and electron donor compounds in diffusion transfer systems, as well as being used as anti-color turbidity agents.
However, these hydroquinones and sulfonamidophenols are known to deteriorate (undergo aerial oxidation) during the lifetime of the sensitive material and to migrate between layers, and this is undesirable since it results in a change in photographic performance with the passage of time. Thinner films are being used in the latest sensitive materials with a view to improving picture quality (increasing sharpness), and techniques in which the deterioration with the passage of time and inter-layer migration of the reducing agents are markedly suppressed are clearly desirable in order to minimize as far as possible the amount of hydroquinones and sulfonamidophenols which have to be added.
Furthermore, the reduction in the amount of gelatin which accompanies any reduction in layer thickness has an adverse effect on the inter-layer adhesion of multilayer sensitive materials and improvement in this connection is also desirable.
As well as the methods for dispersing the hydroquinones in a sensitive material which involve dispersion along with a high boiling point organic solvent which are often used in practice, methods of dispersion together with a polymer have been disclosed in JP-A-No. 55-144239 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,641) and JP-A-No. 56-125738 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,236), but the suppressing effect on the deterioration with the passage of time and the interlayer migration of the hydroquinones achieved thereby is inadequate.